Lookback at Star Wars video games

Games

There are probably enough "Star Wars" video games to fill a space cruiser. And let's face it: Many of them probably should have been destroyed along with those pesky Death Stars.

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But like the enduring saga of good versus evil upon which they're based, a few used the mythic story and fantastical locales very successfully. If we're going to cover the entire history of Star Wars games, we'll have to go back to a time long, long ago, when arcades still ruled the galaxy.

Though it debuted years after "Episode IV: A New Hope," Atari's "Star Wars" coin-op in 1983 was just as amazing as the first film's opening space battle.

Using simple but smooth color vector graphics, you piloted an X-Wing through swarms of Imperial TIE fighters, then attacked the Death Star. Many quarters were lost in my quest to defeat the evil galactic empire.

We'll have to fast forward almost a decade before another "Star Wars" game grabbed me so, umm, forcefully.

It was 1992, and the movie prequels were on the distant horizon. But I had a Super Nintendo Entertainment System, one of the most advanced consoles at the time, and a new "Super Star Wars" cartridge that blew me away. This LucasArts title remains a sentimental favorite - I still dust off my SNES and play from time to time. The game followed the movie events precisely, with stereo sound and excellent color graphics in a side-scrolling adventure.

More recently, the franchise has been spun in countless directions:

"Star Wars: Battlefront" for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC was a first-person shooter where dozens of combatants fought each other with laser turrets and advanced weaponry. Cool ships like TIE-Fighters, however, were impossible to control. A sequel has been announced.

This year's buildup to Sith already has seen some decent "Star Wars" games.

Call me a nerf herder for not mentioning more, but there are just too many games to cram into one article.